NEW YEARS 2024 - A Wish

The holidays are over and I did my bit to spread cheer.  

Around the holidays, many people report feeling happier, referring to "Christmas spirit" or "holidays cheer" to define the experience.  These are phrases referred to often by those who believe December is a magical month.  It's that feeling of joy, warmth and nostalgia people feel when they hear the first carols of the season (assuming they aren't played before Thanksgiving!).

Many of us associate childhood memories with the holidays, bringing up feelings of nostalgia.  Associating the holidays with positive and enjoyable social interactions with friends and family adds to the warm feelings we feel.  Even a love of traditions themselves can bring us joy.  All of these things, and our responses, culminate in positive emotions.  

Some researchers and psychologists think there is proof that holiday cheer is real.  

Evidence of Christmas cheer inside the brain was found during a study run at the University of Denmark in 2015. Twenty people were shown images with either a Christmas or non-Christmas theme while having their brain monitored in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine. The fMRI machine highlights parts of the brain when there is an increase or decrease in activity in that region. And when there was an increase of activity for this study, that region lit up like … well, a Christmas tree.  (The Conversation, 12/24/19)

So every time we encounter items or ideas that we relate to over Christmastime, the brain combines them with personal experiences, our present physiological state and environment, and it forms a subjective feeling that taps into our happiness emotion.  Holiday cheer may be an emotion in-itself.  

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Holiday cheer feels almost tangible to me.  Like singing carols to the universe, I feel content and calm, and have a fullness and generosity in my heart.  It's not a fleeting sensation--brought on by dazzling decorations, shopping and merry making--but an enduring sense of benevolence.  I hope others experience this uplifting phenomenon as well.  

If only it could be an everyday state of mind--demonstrated in empathy, tolerance, kindness and charity--and we could sustain the same attitude of good will the rest of the year.  

I wish us all the warm, fulfilling spirit of the season throughout the new year!